Beth Waitkus
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Beth Waitkus has more than 12 years of project management and communications experience as well as a lifelong love of gardening and nature. Beth has recently completed her Masters in Science in Organization Development from Pepperdine University and conducted her thesis research on the "Impact of a Prison Garden on the Social Climate and Physical Environment of a Prison Yard.

A team of local landscapers, gardeners and community members, as well as prison inmates and staff have participated in building and maintaining an organic, native California garden on San Quentin's medium-security prison yard. The Insight Garden has become the only inter-racial area on the prison yard.
The project germinated under the guidance of Beth Waitkus, the volunteer director of the Insight Garden Program. For more than three years, she navigated the layers of institutional bureaucracy, fostering collaborative decision making between prison leadership, staff, inmates and volunteers. The garden was finally born on the Winter Solstice two years ago, the shortest, darkest day of the year. In four short days, inmates, with support from volunteer experts, transformed a mound of mud into a 1,200-square-foot organic flower garden, and in the process sowed the promise of a tranquil haven in the bleak prison yard.
Since then, more than 250 inmates have participated in the garden program, gaining much more than just an education in gardening. They have learned that working in the garden means working on themselves, that the effort of digging, planting and nurturing applies as much to their hearts and minds as it does to the soil.

"You [all have been] a blessing in so many lives and I want to thank you for that... I have so much respect for our planet which is our home... now I know that I can make a difference for myself, others, and future generations. Thank you for helping me recover my freedom and my love for this world and other people."
— Ronnell, former prisoner

Insight Garden Program

In collaboration with San Quentin State Prison, the Insight Garden Program (IGP) provides rehabilitation to self-selected prisoners through the process of organic gardening. Through the act of caring for plants, the qualities of responsibility, discipline and mindfulness transfer to the interpersonal realm — by growing plants, people also "grow."

The IGP's classes include classroom course curricula and hands-on experience in a 1,200-square foot organic flower garden in San Quentin's medium-security prison yard. In our classes, men learn about landscaping and gardening, including (but not limited to): planning, budgeting and design, irrigation, soil amendment, seasonal garden maintenance, and plant ID and propagation.

By working in an organic flower garden, men also become ecologically literate — developing an awareness of their connection to and impact on the world around them. They learn about the interconnectedness of human and ecological systems and how the principles of the natural world, such as diversity and cooperation, transfer to all levels of human systems.

This approach of "re-connection through nature" is integrated with opportunities for personal development. Because nature cultivates awareness, men learn to respond rather than react — and become productive members of society when they leave prison.

http://www.insightgardenprogram.org/overview.html

 

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